rebuttal -
the speech act of refuting by offering a contrary contention or argument
refutation,
defence,
defense the speech act of answering an attack on your assertions; "his refutation of the charges was short and persuasive"; "in defense he said the other man started it"
rebuttal -
(law) a pleading by the defendant in reply to a plaintiff's surrejoinder
Rebuttal is a form of evidence that is presented to contradict or nullify other evidence that has been presented by an adverse party. By analogy the same term is used in politics and public affairs to refer to the informal process by which statements, designed to refute or negate specific arguments put forward by opponents, are deployed in the media. In law, special rules apply to rebuttal.